Page 101 of Peach Tree Family

"I'm keeping you company," Seth said and only held him tighter.

In the morning, Theo had to tell Ace about Aunt Cindy. He put it off because he didn't want to ruin the fun day Ace had with the other kids, but now it had to be done.

Theo still waited until after breakfast to give him the bad news. Then he watched Ace's face crumple.

"How did she find us?" Ace asked.

"This place isn't a secret," Theo told him and rubbed his back.

"I don't want to go home with her," Ace said and leaned on Theo.

"I don't want you to either," Theo told him, afraid to promise anything. He put his arms around Ace.

Theo hated to see how his expression changed, like time had turned back. Ace was scared again, and Theo was too. He had to find out what Aunt Cindy wanted.

He didn't want to see her but it was better to get it over with and not risk her showing up at the house when Ace was there. Theo had Seth take Ace and Butter to visit Sammy's cats. Theo hoped that would be enough to distract him.

When he called his aunt, Theo wasn't sure where she would want to meet up, but she immediately said she was coming over to the house. He waited for her in front and tried to suppress any sign of fear.

"Why did you come here?" Theo asked her as soon as she got out of the car.

"You're not gonna ask me to come inside?" she said.

"I know you're not here for a visit," Theo told her and didn't invite her in.

"I'd like to see where you're living," she said and walked past him.

"Are you still seeing Jerry?" Theo asked and stepped in front of her.

"We don't need to talk about him. Is there some reason you don't want me to see where you have Ace living?"

"You hit Ace, threatened him and called him a liar so you could protect your abusive boyfriend," Theo told her.

"I never did any such thing," she lied. "Now I want to see this house of yours right now."

Theo narrowed his eyes at her. "Why are you so determined to see the house?"

She huffed then looked from the house to him then after a long pause she came out with it. "I want to see if it's in good enough shape to sell," she said.

"What? No one is selling that house," Theo told her sharply.

"You kidnapped Ace. You should be in jail, but I'm willing to look past it. This house will be sold so you can pay me back for all the trouble you caused me."

So that's what she was up to.

"The house isn't for sale," Theo informed her.

"You owe me! Do you want to go to jail?" she threatened then took a breath. "I don't want to have to take Ace away from you, just do like I say and sell this place."

"You threw us out," Theo reminded her.

"Smarten up, Theo. If you love your brother, if you want to keep Ace, you'll sell the house." With that she left, and Theo covered his eyes with both hands.

She was after money, not Ace. That was almost good news. But losing the house... And what made her think the house was worth anything? It would take forever to sell a property in the middle of nowhere. Not that he wanted to do it.

As soon as Theo texted Seth that his aunt was gone, he wanted to come back without Ace so they could talk. But once he got there, Theo didn't let him get out of the truck.

"I'm too tense to stay put," he told Seth. "And too pissed off."

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